Work Text:
The sky is pitch black outside Jane’s office. The streets outside are quiet, with the only sound being the gentle breeze flowing through the open window. It’s a nice night, and Jane would have enjoyed it if she wasn’t currently buried in a mountain of paperwork.
She sighs, leaning back in her chair as she stretches her arms out. Currently, she was investigating the finances of her client’s wife. The client thought his wife was stealing from their shared account for some reason, and had hired Jane to prove it. Cases like this were typical for her; she didn’t enjoy doing them, and it was tedious work, but they paid the bills.
Idly, she fiddles with the ring on her finger. She absently wonders what John is doing right now, but her mood immediately sours when she remembers. Taking a deep breath, she dives back into her work, pushing any thoughts of her husband to the side.
“You’re still awake.”
Unfortunately, she barely manages to get started when a voice appears behind her. Jane grunts in response. “Mm.”
“It’s late.” Don Sonnellino walks up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You should sleep.”
“I’m almost finished,” Jane says. “I just need to check these last few documents, and…”
She was interrupted by a perfectly timed yawn, and she quickly covers her mouth. “Ugh.”
Sonnellino leans back against her desk beside her. “I think they can wait,” he says. “You’re a real workaholic, you know that?”
“Rich coming from you.”
“Heh.”
He stares at her for a moment, and if it were anyone else, she’d be unnerved. But the Don was just like that.
“It’s okay to take a break once in a while,” he says. “Your work can wait.”
“I doubt my client would be happy about that,” Jane responds.
“You’re reputable, aren’t you? He can deal with it if he wants good results. You always take case after case after case. Doesn’t it get tiring?”
“The bills don’t pay themselves.”
“Now I know you’re not short on cash. Besides, I’d cover for you if needed.”
Jane finally looks back up at him. “You’re being awfully considerate right now. What’s the agenda here, Don?”
“Agenda? That’s cold. You’re a friend of the family, after all you’ve done for us. It’s only right we take care of you.”
“Yeah? You treat everyone else like this too?” It was a rhetorical question. Jane knew he didn’t.
Sonnellino stays silent for a while. “You helped me,” he finally says. “When I was at my lowest, when Chance went missing. You helped me let go of my anger, helped me move on.”
Jane blinks. She hadn’t been expecting this. “That’s overstating it,” she says. “I just did my job.”
“You did,” he agrees. “But you were in the same boat as me. No one else could really understand what I was going through, except you.”
He looks at her. “I have few friends, Jane. Comes with the territory. But I consider you to be one of them.”
Jane didn’t know what to say. While Sonnellino seemed the outgoing type on the outside, he held many secrets and rarely let people know the real him. This was a rare vulnerable moment, and she didn’t know how to respond.
“Friend, huh? You haven’t even told me your first name yet,” she jokes.
Sonnellino chuckles. “Want me to tell you?”
Jane momentarily freezes. She knew very few people actually knew his first name, and to have that privilege was truly an honour. But...
“No thanks, Don,” she replies. “The mystery is the fun part.”
“Is it now?”
“I appreciate it, though,” she continues. “I know you’re far from the type to wear your heart on your sleeve. For what it’s worth, I consider you a friend too.”
Sonnellino flashes a small smile. “Glad to hear it. But I didn’t come here to talk about myself.”
Jane raises an eyebrow. “Sorry?”
“I got over Chance a while ago. But you? You haven’t mourned yet.”
Jane is taken aback. She flexes her jaw as she tries to come up with a response. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sonnellino sighs. “Ever since I met you, but especially these past few months, you’ve been throwing yourself at your work. Day and night, you’re always busy.”
“I’m a workaholic. You said so yourself.”
“Don’t give me that. This is different. All you focus on is your work, and nothing else. You constantly forget to eat, you constantly forget to drink, you don’t take care of yourself.”
He continues. “You’re distracting yourself. You’re distracting yourself with your work so you never have to think about him. So you can delude yourself into thinking he’ll come back someday.”
“Delu-“ Jane scoffs. “Excuse me?”
“Yes,” Sonnellino says. “You’ve investigated the cases yourself, so you know how hopeless it is. Multiple missing persons, all mysteriously disappearing around the same timeframe without a trace. Including your husband, and Chance. There’s nothing we can do. They’re gone.”
Jane slams her fists on the table. Sonnellino doesn’t flinch. “John is not gone,” she hisses. “He’s not. I can- I can find him. I just need to look harder.”
“No, Jane,” Sonnellino’s voice is firm. “I’m tired of watching you doing this to yourself. John is gone, and it is not your fault. But he’s not coming back, and you need to accept that.”
Jane looks at Sonnellino, before looking down at the desk, a storm of emotions raging through her body. At first, she feels anger. Anger, at his blunt tone and the audacity to even suggest such a thing. However, as she thinks of the countless hours she’s spent, throughout mornings to the dead of night, pouring over every possible lead only to end up exactly where she started: nowhere, it gradually fades.
She stares at the ring on her finger, the one John had worked so hard to give her. Memories flash through her mind: their first meeting, their first date, their wedding. She remembers their final months together, one day standing out in particular. She remembers John coming home from a debugging trip one night, looking sickly. She’d initially dismissed it as typical travel sickness, and she hadn’t thought to look deeper than that. But when she finally noticed John hadn’t gotten any better despite a few days having already passed, it was too late. He’d disappeared while she was at work, and the feeling of coming home to an empty house that night was one she never wanted to think about again.
Frustration overtakes her body, before it quickly shifts to despair. She blinks rapidly, tears threatening to spill out from her eyes.
“I… I can’t,” she chokes out.
“You can,” Sonnellino responds. Tenderly, he crouches down next to her and reaches out to grasp her hand as she begins to cry. “I know you’re strong enough to.”
“I… I just…” Jane wipes her eyes with her free arm. “I just don’t understand why. Why did it have to be him? It isn’t fair!”
“It isn’t,” he agrees. “But we have to live with it nonetheless.” Sonnellino squeezes her hand gently, and the motion reminds Jane of her husband.
When the last of her tears fall, Jane takes a deep breath. “Damn it,” she mutters. “That was embarrassing.”
“Don’t say that,” Sonnellino replies. “You’ve been through a lot. It’s okay to cry.”
“Hm. When was the last time you cried?”
“When I dropped my pizza slice last night.”
“Ugh.” Jane shoves him away, standing up. Suddenly exhausted, the thought of working any further didn’t seem very appealing.
Sonnellino must’ve sensed it. “Go to sleep,” he says, but it’s more like an order.
Jane nods. “...Okay.”
Sonnellino trails behind her as she walks to her apartment. It’s close by, so they reach it shortly.
When they arrive at her building. Sonnellino tips his hat towards her. “Good night, Jane,” he says.
But before he can leave, Jane calls out to him. “Don,” she says.
He turns around, tilting his head.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do all that for me. It really means a lot. More than you know.”
Sonnellino’s smile is sincere. “It was my pleasure.”
With that, he leaves, fading into the dark streets like a shadow into the night.
Jane enters her building, and heads to her apartment up on the fourth floor. As she enters, she carefully steps around the unopened boxes full of her belongings, the ones she hadn’t gotten around to unpacking after she moved out of her and John’s old home. She supposes it was finally time to clean the place up. But not tonight.
She knows the road to healing will take time. She knows it won’t be easy. But it was like Sonnellino said: it needed to happen. She couldn’t go on chasing a ghost forever. She needed to mourn John, and move on with her life.
Alone, it would probably take ages. But she wouldn’t be alone. With Sonnellino by her side, Jane knows she’s going to be alright.